Net Zero Finance: How financial firms can set science-based climate targets

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: SBTi's Nate Aden and Schroders' Stephanie Chang chat to BusinessGreen's James Murray about how financial sector should go about setting stringent financed emissions goals

Companies right across the financial sector - from banks, investors, financial institutions and pension funds - are facing growing scrutiny over the carbon impact of not just their core business, but their entire value chains of investments, financial support and loan books.

Increasingly, financial firms are therefore under pressure to firstly measure and disclose their emissions footprint, and then to use that information to set credible targets to decarbonise their financial portfolios via independent certification schemes, such as the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which has recently launched a new net zero target standard.

Yet while deeply urgent and necessary to drive down emissions from financial portfolios over the next decade and beyond, doing so is an immensely challenging and complex process, and most of the sector is only at the beginning of the journey, if indeed it has even started.

At BusinessGreen's recent Net Zero Finance summit, which took place online in March 2022, Nate Aden, senior associate at the SBTi, and Schroders' head of ESG integration Stephanie Chang both spoke to BG editor in chief James Murry about how companies can and should start on their science-based climate target journey.

Their fascinating and resourceful conversation can be watched back in full again above.

All of the sessions from the Net Zero Finance Summit. which took place virtually in March 2022, are available to watch back on demand for delegates signed up to on demand. More details are available on the event website.

Schroders and the Science-Based Targets initiative are partners of the Net Zero Finance summit.

More on Investment

Credit: iStock

European banking regulator sounds alarm over 'clear increase' in potential greenwashing cases

European Banking Authority also warns greenwashing has the 'highest impact' on firms' reputational and litigation risks

Cristian Angeloni
clock 02 June 2023 • 1 min read
Aegon UK chief investment officer Tim Orton

Aegon UK to invest £500m in climate solutions by 2026 in net zero push

Pensions and investments giant sets out climate action roadmap towards halving its financed emissions by 2030

Holly Roach
clock 02 June 2023 • 2 min read
Credit: iStock

CleanJoule secures $50m backing to scale up SAF production

Investors in the US start-up include airlines WizzAir, Frontier Airlines, Volaris, all of which have also signed offtake deals for SAF with the firm

clock 31 May 2023 • 3 min read